Monthly Archives: October 2015

JOHANNESBURG – A group of 27 excited participants descended on Johannesburg on Thursday, 1 October. Two young business leaders from each of the nine provinces, accompanied by a chaperone all had one goal in mind – to be the winning team of the inaugural JA South Africa | Citi Company of the Year Competition 2015.

Prior to their arrival in Johannesburg, the business leaders used WhatsApp messages to submit their responses to challenges, were briefed about presentation content and marketing materials to prepare, and various other methods of support offered the teams. Nthato Malope (@Nthato) from Kairos, a business that works with entrepreneurs and helps them tell better stories about their businesses, guided the young business leaders through a series of workshops to refine their final pitches to judges.

In their exhibition shells, which served as their makeshift business for the day, teams engaged a panel of judges who assessed their trade booth, their company financial reports, their business presentation and their ability to answer tough business related questions posed by the judges. The judges identified a top 5 at the end of this stage of the competition. Teams in the top 5 were:

The top 5 then presented to a final panel of judges on Saturday 3 October at a cocktail event hosted at Citi. Judges on the day were; Dennis Evans – CCO, Citi; Daisy Tlhapane – Head: Middle Market Segments, Multichoice; Karabo Denalane – MD, McCann Johannesburg; Siya Mapoko, Author and Speaker. Reaching a decision on the final top 3 was no easy feat as the judges deliberated for about an hour following the top 5’s presentations to them.

The final top 3 were announced as:

Washer Washer

Creative Artifical Jewelry

Innovative Minds

The winning team, Washer Washer from the Free State – Simphiwe Mokoena, Simphiwe Gumbi, and their chaperone Pontsho Kakuli are photographed here with Karabo Denalane, Dennis Evans and Daisy Tlhapane.

The winning team, Washer Washer from the Free State – Simphiwe Mokoena, Simphiwe Gumbi, and their chaperone Pontsho Kakuli are photographed here with Karabo Denalane, Dennis Evans and Daisy Tlhapane.

Prizes include a trophy for teams placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, a cash equivalent prize for the winning team’s school and flights to Gabon, West Africa for the winning team of four members plus a chaperone to compete in the JA Africa Regional Company of the Year Competition.

About JA South Africa

JA South Africa has, for the past 36 years been offering South African youth, aged between 10 and 35 a platform to create sustainable futures as opportunity makers and possibility seekers. We achieve this through our array of programmes, all experiential in nature where learners are required to actively engage in real business or financial activities.
Additional information may be found at www.jasa.org.za | Twitter: @JASouthAfrica | YouTube: www.youtube.com/JASouthAfrica | Blog: JASouthAfricaBlog | Facebook: www.facebook.com/JASouthAfrica

About CitiCiti, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi